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World War II in the United States Colony of the Philippines: Beyond the Bataan Death March and Douglas MacArthur

In the end, the extent of their psychological stress, witnessing the execution of friends and family, their religious convictions and language stripped away, extracted a steep price from the Filipino people. The carnage at De La Salle College, the bayoneting of babies, the rape and murder of female civilians, were unspeakable crimes against humanity.

The criteria for a War of Annihilation is, according to Zeiler, where "civilians are military targets and not immune from warfare."74 It has been argued that WWII was a War of Annihilation, where brutality was sanctioned because the ultimate objective was to "save democracy" or defend Imperialism.75 Where the aim was to "eliminate the enemy threat physically, ideologically, and totally."76

Yet WWII in the Philippines cannot be a considered a War of Annihilation. During the rage-fueled sacking of Manila that occurred in the first weeks of February 1945, when Japanese forces realized that American liberation was imminent, there were extenuating factors that must be considered. First and foremost was that the bloodshed the Japanese Marines unleashed upon Manila was not sanctioned by the Japanese Government. On the contrary, General Tomoyuki Yamashita, the Imperial Amy commander, ordered his units to withdraw from Manila, as MacArthur had been forced to do in 1941.77 But systemic discord and dissention from within the Japanese armed forces sabotaged Yamashita's orders. Rear Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi, "chose his own course of action."78 Not only did Iwabuchi fail to withdraw as General Yamashita had instructed (even as the majority of the Army troops complied and retreated), but Admiral Iwabuchi ordered an additional 15,000 Naval forces and 4,000 Army stragglers to hold Manila or die in the process.79 In the end, Iwabuchi's men destroyed much of the city, razing any structure of importance with bombs and dynamite until entire sections of Manila were leveled.

There are reports that in late 1944, President Laurel (who succeeded Quezon as President of the Commonwealth when Quezon died of complications from tuberculosis in August 1944), petitioned the Imperial Government to have Manila declared an open city, mimicking General MacArthur's example in 1941. General Yamashita of the Japanese Army agreed and proceeded to declare Manila an open city, only to have the order countermanded by Admiral Iwabuchi of the Japanese Navy. This was a characteristic display of the deep fissures that existed within the Japanese armed forces, where various branches of the military had been in constant disagreement throughout the war.

Japan's long-term goals demonstrate that Japan had wished to preserve the Philippines at all costs. Because of its abundant natural resources and its strategic geography, the Commonwealth represented a valuable asset. Japan's vision for the Philippines and "Asia for the Asiatics" extended far into future, and from Japan's perspective, their nation's future prosperity had evolved so that it was closely intertwined with the Philippine economy. During the duration of the war, as Japan's oil inventory dwindled, Japan increasingly relied upon the Philippines for its own security and survival.

The slaughter during the sacking of Manila, while on the surface may seem to promote a policy of annihilation, was not so. The human rights abuses that occurred leading up to the liberation were instigated by a rogue Admiral, as opposed to a direct extension of Imperial wartime policy.80 The Philippine conflict was unique in that a War of Annihilation was never the ultimate Japanese objective. On the contrary, warfare escalated into extermination only when Japanese defeat was imminent. However, even then, the decision was not unanimously sanctioned by Japan's High Command.

Some military historians may argue that war in the Philippines could not have been averted, regardless of whether the Philippines had been a U.S. protectorate or an independent country. This is a debatable issue. Would the Philippines have evolved into the tantalizing trophy that it appeared to Japan in the absence of generous U.S. capital infusions? Without the economic guarantees offered by a wealthy benefactor? Could the Philippines have accomplished so much on its own? That is doubtful.

Up until 1946, when the Philippines attained its independence from the U.S., it was a country without the advantage of experienced autonomous leadership, having been a colonial holding (at various intervals) of Spain, the British, and the United States since the mid-1500s. The Filipinos were neophytes when it came to self-governance. Because U.S. intervention in the Philippine Government never truly ceased, Filipinos were badly prepared for independence.81 Regrettably, the response to the question of how Filipinos might have fared under self-rule is plainly evident by looking backwards through history itself. One only need glance at the Philippines today to observe the rampant corruption, human rights abuses, devastating poverty, mismanagement of natural resources, and government instability to come to the conclusion that perhaps the Filipinos may have fared much better as an American colony, than as an independent, self-governing nation.

Given the economic state of Japan in 1941, one of reasons the Philippines appealed to the Imperial Government was its thriving export industry, which was flourishing thanks in large part to the infusion of American capital.82 Would agriculture and mining in the Philippines have evolved to the degree that it had, without U.S. financial aid, intellectual and technical expertise, and U.S. Government intervention? That is uncertain. The fact that Japan recognized that its conquest of the Philippines placed into its grasp an agricultural country that could be brought to self-sufficiency, with little economic expenditure, cannot be overstressed. Japan was not in the best of financial shape during this period, as the global embargoes had taken a significant toll on its fiscal health. Had the Philippines required a substantial financial capital investment to produce the output of hemp, fuel, cotton, and sugar, that was essential to meet Japan's needs, this would have made the Philippines a very costly enterprise Japan could ill-afford, and the outcome is anyone's guess. It is likely that the Philippines might have appeared significantly less attractive to the Japanese Government under such circumstances--because economic viability was a prerequisite given Japan's desperate state.

Perhaps, the greatest evidence that a War of Annihilation was not in the cards for the Philippines, was that the linchpin of the Japanese economic conversion program, was "to merge Japan's industrial needs with Philippine agriculture."83 A War of Annihilation had never been a consideration, because Japan's vision for the Philippines extended far into future and was closely intertwined with Japan's own long-term welfare and continued existence.

All combined, American colonial status, U.S. embargoes leading up to 1941 that were taxing Japan's survival, the potential natural resources the Philippines offered (which could not have been as rapidly developed without hefty financial contributions from the U.S.), its favorable geographic location, and the opportunity for retribution against the United States, in effect nailed a bulls-eye upon the back of the Philippine Commonwealth.

Several historic events offer overwhelming evidence to support the argument that the Philippines experienced greater hardships during the war because of its status as a U.S. protectorate. Firstly, the timing of Japan's attack upon the Philippines occurred within twenty-four hours of the raid upon Pearl Harbor, which demonstrates that in the eyes of the Imperial Government, both nations were in essence one and the same country.84 Secondly, as the Japanese Imperial Army moved across Luzon Island towards Manila, Manuel Quezon (President of the Commonwealth), made an urgent entreaty to President Roosevelt to allow the Philippines its independence, so that Quezon "could announce Philippine neutrality."85 While Quezon's desperate plea was denied, Quezon accurately surmised that had the Philippines been divested of its status as a U.S. protectorate, his country might have been spared.86 Towards the end of the Japanese occupation, the Philippine Commonwealth was subjected to unimaginable atrocities because Japan lashed out in a final attempt to punish its great adversary.

On July 4, 1946, the Commonwealth of the Philippines was officially designated the Republic of the Philippines. It gained its long sought for independence from the United States, and became a sovereign country. The Republic was recognized by the United Nations even earlier, in October 1945.87 For the Philippines, this brought to a close over four hundred years of colonial intervention.

National WWII Museum of New Orleans, By the Numbers: Worldwide Deaths, accessed on November 14, 2016. http://www.nationalww2museum.org/learn/education/for-students/ww2- history/ww2-by-the-numbers/world-wide-deaths.html

Wheatcroft, Geoffrey."The Myth of the Good War." The Guardian, (December 2014). https://www.theguardian.com/news/2014/dec/09/-sp-myth-of-the-good-war

Willoughby, Major General Charles A. in Manila (with Antonio Perez de Olaguer, Terror in Manila: February 1945, Philippines: 159-166).

Yu-Jose, Lydia N. "World War II and the Japanese in the Prewar Philippines." Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 27, no. 1 (1996): 64-81.

Endnotes

The National WWII Museum of New Orleans, By the Numbers: Worldwide Deaths, accessed on November 14, 2016. http://www.nationalww2museum.org/learn/education/for-students/ww2-history/ww2-by-the-numbers/world-wide-deaths.html. Civilian deaths totaled 45,000,000. Battle deaths were 15,000,000. "World-wide casualty estimates vary widely in several sources. The number of civilian deaths in China alone might well be more than 50,000,000."

Bolger, Lt. General Daniel P. "MacArthur Unleashes 1st Calvary on Manila." Army Magazine 65, no. 2 (February 2015): 59-61. Some civilians died from friendly-fire shrapnel, but these casualties were in the minority.

Thomas W. Zeiler, Annihilation: A Global Military History of WWII, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011).

Douglas MacArthur served as Military Advisor to the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines prior to the outbreak of the war.

Marc Favreau, A People's History of WWII, (New York: The New Press, 2011), Preface x.

Robert H. Jackson, That Man: An Insider's Portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt, (New York: Oxford Press, 2003). This manuscript was unearthed only recently. It was written shortly before Jackson's death in 1954.

Juergen R. Goldhagen, Manila Memories: Four Boys Remember Their Lives Before, During and After the Japanese Occupation, (London: Old Guard Press, 2008), 9; and, Antonio Perez de Olaguer, Terror in Manila: February 1945, (Philippines: Memorare Manila Foundation, 2005),93. The narrative of journalist Antonio Perez de Olaguer is another illustration of this tendency; de Olaguer's book expounds upon the sack of Manila in February 1945 from the perspective of the local Filipinos. This work was originally published in 1947 in Spanish, and underwent a translation, revival, and re-publication in 2005, a testament to the emergence in popularity of the common man perspective.

Studs Terkel, The Good War: An Oral History of WWII, (New York: Pantheon, 1984), Preface vi.

Weber, Mark. "The Danger of Historical Lies: President Clinton's Distortion of History," The Journal of Historical Review 16, no. 3 (1997). https://archive.org/stream/TheJournalOfHistoricalReviewVolume16Number3/TheJournalOfHistoricalReviewVolume16-number-3-1997_djvu.txt.In Dwight Eisenhower's declaration of June 6, 1944, issued in connection with the D-Day invasion, Eisenhower called the fight against Nazi Germany, "The Great Crusade." President Bill Clinton boasted that America, "Saved the world from tyranny," during his second inaugural address on January 20, 1997.

Naidu, G.V.C. "Repression and Resistance." Economic and Political Weekly 20, no. 3 (January 1985): 101-103. America also led the Filipinos to believe that "they would leave as soon as the house is set in order."

Yu-Jose, Lydia N. "WWII and the Japanese in the Prewar Philippines."Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 27, no. 1 (1996): 64-81. American self-interest was evident in shaping the Philippine economy to be "dependent on the United States, the free trade between the two countries being the most controversial." In 1939, Paul McNutt (American High Commissioner), openly voiced opposition to the previously agreed upon plan of Philippine independence, advocated for "dominion" status instead, and that same year, Philippine independence was "postponed for 25 years" (68). While Japan granted the Philippines independence on October 1942 (during its occupation), this independence too was a charade--it was independence in name only (68).

Yu-Jose. "WWII and the Japanese in the Prewar Philippines," 75-76. The Public Land Act forbade ownership of public lands by non-Americans and non-Filipinos. A corporation could only purchase or lease land if 61% of its stock was under American or Filipino ownership.

Yu-Jose."WWII and the Japanese in the Prewar Philippines," 69.

Yu-Jose."WWII and the Japanese in the Prewar Philippines," 75. The embargo had depleted Japan's inventory of oil, so even before the outbreak of the war, Japan had less than two years' inventory remaining.

Danquah, Francis K. "Reports on Philippine Industrial Crops in WWII from Japan's English Language Press." Agricultural History 79, no. 1 (2005): 74-96; and, Roland H. Worth, No Choice But War: The United States Embargo Against Japan and the Eruption of War in the Pacific, (New York: McFarland, 1995).

Connor."Imaginary Invasion." 62-67. Among these naval bases and airstrips were Clark field, located 50 miles from the capital city of Manila, and Cavite Naval Base, the U.S. Asiatic Fleet's home port.

Petillo."Douglas MacArthur and Manuel Quezon." 111.

Yu-Jose."WWII and the Japanese in the Prewar Philippines." 78. Japanese men, women, and children who had been interned in Davao City were released on December 20, 1941, following the arrival of the Japanese Army.

Southeastern Mindanao is located approximately 1,500 miles from the capital city of Manila.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary, s.v. "open city." Accessed November 14, 2016, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/open%20city: "A city that is not occupied or defended by military forces and that is not allowed to be bombed under international law."

Goldhagen, Manila Memories, 36. According to Goldhagen, although Manila was declared an open city, many lived in fear of what the Japanese might do, particularly in light of the Rape of Nanking, which had been broadcast in newspapers and newsreels.

Goldhagen, Manila Memories,39. The events of December 27, 1941 (the day after the open city declaration), were an exception; Japanese forces violated international law by bombing warehouses along the Pasig River, which resulted in heavy casualties within the Walled City of Intramuros. By the same token, two days later on December 29th, the U.S. infringed upon its own open city declaration and dynamited the Pandacan oil tank fields to prevent the Japanese from accessing the fuel stored there.

From Oral interview with Author: Thiele, Rose Marie, November 2, 2016. "We did stop school for a while only. But then I remember going back to school during the Japanese occupation at the same school, at Saint Scholastica."

Smith, Steven Trent. "Moving Target."WWII Journal 26, no. 6 (March/April 2012): 36. Americans were sent to huge prison camps at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. Santo Tomas was a Spanish, Catholic educational institution founded in 1611.

Ward, James M. "Legitimate Collaboration: The Administration of Santo Tomas Internment Camp and Its Histories, 1942-2003." Pacific Historical Review 77, no. 2 (May 2008): 159. The camp at the University of Santo Tomas was the largest internment camp in the Philippines. Americans and other Allied nationals would be interned there for 3 years. There were approximately 8,000 American citizens residing in the Philippines, and many were held hostage by the Japanese. Another internment camp was located in Los Banos.

Goldhagen, Manila Memories, 62. Narrative of Roderick Hall, "As the war progressed, he [dad] would only get a few half day passes. All leaves finally ended."

Goldhagen, Manila Memories, 9 & 43. Swiss citizens were considered neutrals and were permitted to move freely within the occupied territory. Foreign nationals included but were not limited to Chinese, Japanese, Swiss, South Americans, Germans, Italians, and Spaniards. "Swiss, Germans, and Italians were considered by the Japanese to be neutrals, or allies."

Frederick H. Stevens. "Santo Tomas Internment Camp: 1942-1945." Limited private edition (1946); and, de Olaguer, Terror in Manila,93. "Deaths averaged 5 or 6 per month in early 1944, up to 13 in October 1944 through January 1945, and 37 during the period of February 1-12, 1945."

"How the Philippines Saved 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust," CNN, February 3, 2015. Accessed on November 14, 2016. http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/02/world/asia/philippines-jews-wwii/From: Goldhagen, Manila Memories, 59. "Fortunately for us, the Japanese were not anti-Semitic. There was to be no ill-treatment of the Jews...they did classify Jews at a slightly lower category than non-Jewish Germans. At that time, none of us knew what was happening to the Jews in Germany."

Goldhagen, Manila Memories, 62.

Ward. "Legitimate Collaboration." 186.

Zeiler, Annihilation, 2. For the purpose of this paper, POWs are defined as captured Allied military personnel or soldiers of the Philippine Army who were engaged in active warfare in the Philippines at some point during WWII.

Danquah."Reports on Philippine Industrial Crops in WWII." 88.

Goldhagen, Manila Memories, 57. As was the case of Mr. Goldsmith, a German Jew who was caught with a home safe containing IOUs from American POWs. Goldsmith was taken to Fort Santiago and tortured. He was eventually released, but died of his injuries soon afterwards.

Goldhagen, Manila Memories, 57. "There was always an element of fear of the Japanese." The biggest problem being the language barrier. Filipinos did not know how to speak Japanese, and few Japanese spoke English.

Goldhagen, Manila Memories, 49. From Goldhagen, "I asked my mother why she had me tutored rather than send me to a big school like De La Salle, which was run by Catholic Christian brothers. She told me that if I had gone there, I would have had to take Japanese and they did not want me to do that." Japanese language lessons were mandatory during the occupation.

Toda, Roberto P. Diary, 11. "American or foreign films were not as widely available at that time so that Filipino Theatre Industry was thriving."

Goldhagen, Manila Memories, 55.

Toda, Roberto P. Diary, 11. "The elders would frequent the Jai Alai and the Metropolitan Theatre while the kids would enjoy themselves at home."

Goldhagen, Manila Memories, 49.

Toda, Roberto P. Diary, 11. "Not all Japanese were cruel. There was a Japanese sentry during the Bataan Death March who allowed his prisoner to escape all because of a rosary." Stories of kindnesses included this firsthand account of a Japanese athlete, "a representative of Japan to the Asian Games which where were held in Manila a few years before the war. Because of limited hotel space, some athletes were housed in different venues. De La Salle College provided part of the school for some athletes accommodations, and this particular soldier stayed there. Every morning, when he would walk around the school, the Japanese athlete noticed the students carrying their rosaries [a DLS tradition]. During the Death March, when the sentry saw the prisoner with the rosary, the sentry asked if the prisoner had gone to De La Salle, and when the prisoner said yes, the Japanese sentry set him free."From: Goldhagen, Manila Memories, 47. "What we didn't realize at the time was that the Japanese love children...I was feeding one of their horses some sugar and it tried to take a bite out of my light blonde hair, probably thinking it was straw. A Japanese soldier saw what was about to happen, and stepped in and stopped the horse."

Toda, Roberto P. Diary, 4. Some mestizos were listening to a short wave radio when they were raided by a band of Japanese militia. The entire family was brought to Fort Santiago and "were never heard of again."Goldhagen, Manila Memories, 67. The Japanese required that all radios must have the "short wave coils removed." The risk of non-compliance was a one-way trip to "Fort Santiago for torture, or towards the end" execution.

Toda, Roberto P. Diary, 7.

Danquah."Reports on Philippine Industrial Crops in WWII."76, 92. Abaca (Manila hemp) was invaluable to the Filipinos, because it served as a raw material for fishing nets, rope, paper, socks, and water hoses. Fishing in particular was a major industry. During the war, abaca was used by the Japanese in the production of military gunnysacks.

Danquah."Reports on Philippine Industrial Crops in WWII." 75.

Danquah."Reports on Philippine Industrial Crops in WWII." 75. Prior to the war, approximately "90 percent of the islands' sugar exports went to the United States."

Danquah."Reports on Philippine Industrial Crops in WWII." 2.

Danquah."Reports on Philippine Industrial Crops in WWII."4.

Zeiler, Annihilation, 1.

Toda, Roberto P. Diary, 4. Corroborated in oral Interview with Author: Thiele, Rose Marie, November 2, 2016. Corroborated in an Interview with American Major General Charles A. Willoughby, in Manila (de Olaguer, Terror in Manila: 159-166).

Toda, Roberto P. Diary, 4.

Oral Interview in Manila with: de Olaguer, Terror in Manila, 166. Major General Charles Willoughby, U.S. Army, served as Douglas MacArthur's Chief of Intelligence, Section G-2, during most of WWII.

The Battle of Manila and the sacking of the city began on February 3, 1945 and ended on March 3, 1945.

Toda, Roberto P. Diary. "That night of December 8, 1941 when the bombs first started to drop. Soon after Pearl Harbor the Japanese started landing in Lingayen, north of Manila."Oral Interview with Author: Thiele, Rose Marie, retired United Nations Secretary, November 2, 2016. That day "was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The Philippines is a very Catholic country, and so I remember it well."

Chen. "Invasion of the Philippine Islands." 1.

Chen. "Invasion of the Philippine Islands."1; and, Petillo."Douglas MacArthur and Manuel Quezon." 113. On February 8, 1942, a dispatch was issued from Fort Mills on Corregidor in which President Quezon suggested surrender and neutralization of the islands; MacArthur seemed to acquiesce, arguing that "the temper of the Filipinos is one of almost violent resentment against the United States."--MacArthur to Marshall, February 8, 1942, No. 2275, NNMM, NA. FDR's response was "emphatically deny[ing] the possibility of this government's agreement." Although Roosevelt granted MacArthur "permission to surrender Filipino troops, "Americans were not permitted to surrender."

United Nations Philippines. Accessed on November 14, 2016. http://www.un.org.ph/

National WWII Museum of New Orleans, By the Numbers: Worldwide Deaths, accessed on November 14, 2016. http://www.nationalww2museum.org/learn/education/for-students/ww2- history/ww2-by-the-numbers/world-wide-deaths.html

Wheatcroft, Geoffrey."The Myth of the Good War." The Guardian, (December 2014). https://www.theguardian.com/news/2014/dec/09/-sp-myth-of-the-good-war

Willoughby, Major General Charles A. in Manila (with Antonio Perez de Olaguer, Terror in Manila: February 1945, Philippines: 159-166).

Yu-Jose, Lydia N. "World War II and the Japanese in the Prewar Philippines." Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 27, no. 1 (1996): 64-81.

Endnotes

The National WWII Museum of New Orleans, By the Numbers: Worldwide Deaths, accessed on November 14, 2016. http://www.nationalww2museum.org/learn/education/for-students/ww2-history/ww2-by-the-numbers/world-wide-deaths.html. Civilian deaths totaled 45,000,000. Battle deaths were 15,000,000. "World-wide casualty estimates vary widely in several sources. The number of civilian deaths in China alone might well be more than 50,000,000."

Bolger, Lt. General Daniel P. "MacArthur Unleashes 1st Calvary on Manila." Army Magazine 65, no. 2 (February 2015): 59-61. Some civilians died from friendly-fire shrapnel, but these casualties were in the minority.

Thomas W. Zeiler, Annihilation: A Global Military History of WWII, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011).

Douglas MacArthur served as Military Advisor to the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines prior to the outbreak of the war.

Marc Favreau, A People's History of WWII, (New York: The New Press, 2011), Preface x.

Robert H. Jackson, That Man: An Insider's Portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt, (New York: Oxford Press, 2003). This manuscript was unearthed only recently. It was written shortly before Jackson's death in 1954.

Juergen R. Goldhagen, Manila Memories: Four Boys Remember Their Lives Before, During and After the Japanese Occupation, (London: Old Guard Press, 2008), 9; and, Antonio Perez de Olaguer, Terror in Manila: February 1945, (Philippines: Memorare Manila Foundation, 2005),93. The narrative of journalist Antonio Perez de Olaguer is another illustration of this tendency; de Olaguer's book expounds upon the sack of Manila in February 1945 from the perspective of the local Filipinos. This work was originally published in 1947 in Spanish, and underwent a translation, revival, and re-publication in 2005, a testament to the emergence in popularity of the common man perspective.

Studs Terkel, The Good War: An Oral History of WWII, (New York: Pantheon, 1984), Preface vi.

Weber, Mark. "The Danger of Historical Lies: President Clinton's Distortion of History," The Journal of Historical Review 16, no. 3 (1997). https://archive.org/stream/TheJournalOfHistoricalReviewVolume16Number3/TheJournalOfHistoricalReviewVolume16-number-3-1997_djvu.txt.In Dwight Eisenhower's declaration of June 6, 1944, issued in connection with the D-Day invasion, Eisenhower called the fight against Nazi Germany, "The Great Crusade." President Bill Clinton boasted that America, "Saved the world from tyranny," during his second inaugural address on January 20, 1997.

Naidu, G.V.C. "Repression and Resistance." Economic and Political Weekly 20, no. 3 (January 1985): 101-103. America also led the Filipinos to believe that "they would leave as soon as the house is set in order."

Yu-Jose, Lydia N. "WWII and the Japanese in the Prewar Philippines."Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 27, no. 1 (1996): 64-81. American self-interest was evident in shaping the Philippine economy to be "dependent on the United States, the free trade between the two countries being the most controversial." In 1939, Paul McNutt (American High Commissioner), openly voiced opposition to the previously agreed upon plan of Philippine independence, advocated for "dominion" status instead, and that same year, Philippine independence was "postponed for 25 years" (68). While Japan granted the Philippines independence on October 1942 (during its occupation), this independence too was a charade--it was independence in name only (68).

Yu-Jose. "WWII and the Japanese in the Prewar Philippines," 75-76. The Public Land Act forbade ownership of public lands by non-Americans and non-Filipinos. A corporation could only purchase or lease land if 61% of its stock was under American or Filipino ownership.

Yu-Jose."WWII and the Japanese in the Prewar Philippines," 69.

Yu-Jose."WWII and the Japanese in the Prewar Philippines," 75. The embargo had depleted Japan's inventory of oil, so even before the outbreak of the war, Japan had less than two years' inventory remaining.

Danquah, Francis K. "Reports on Philippine Industrial Crops in WWII from Japan's English Language Press." Agricultural History 79, no. 1 (2005): 74-96; and, Roland H. Worth, No Choice But War: The United States Embargo Against Japan and the Eruption of War in the Pacific, (New York: McFarland, 1995).

Connor."Imaginary Invasion." 62-67. Among these naval bases and airstrips were Clark field, located 50 miles from the capital city of Manila, and Cavite Naval Base, the U.S. Asiatic Fleet's home port.

Petillo."Douglas MacArthur and Manuel Quezon." 111.

Yu-Jose."WWII and the Japanese in the Prewar Philippines." 78. Japanese men, women, and children who had been interned in Davao City were released on December 20, 1941, following the arrival of the Japanese Army.

Southeastern Mindanao is located approximately 1,500 miles from the capital city of Manila.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary, s.v. "open city." Accessed November 14, 2016, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/open%20city: "A city that is not occupied or defended by military forces and that is not allowed to be bombed under international law."

Goldhagen, Manila Memories, 36. According to Goldhagen, although Manila was declared an open city, many lived in fear of what the Japanese might do, particularly in light of the Rape of Nanking, which had been broadcast in newspapers and newsreels.

Goldhagen, Manila Memories,39. The events of December 27, 1941 (the day after the open city declaration), were an exception; Japanese forces violated international law by bombing warehouses along the Pasig River, which resulted in heavy casualties within the Walled City of Intramuros. By the same token, two days later on December 29th, the U.S. infringed upon its own open city declaration and dynamited the Pandacan oil tank fields to prevent the Japanese from accessing the fuel stored there.

From Oral interview with Author: Thiele, Rose Marie, November 2, 2016. "We did stop school for a while only. But then I remember going back to school during the Japanese occupation at the same school, at Saint Scholastica."

Smith, Steven Trent. "Moving Target."WWII Journal 26, no. 6 (March/April 2012): 36. Americans were sent to huge prison camps at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. Santo Tomas was a Spanish, Catholic educational institution founded in 1611.

Ward, James M. "Legitimate Collaboration: The Administration of Santo Tomas Internment Camp and Its Histories, 1942-2003." Pacific Historical Review 77, no. 2 (May 2008): 159. The camp at the University of Santo Tomas was the largest internment camp in the Philippines. Americans and other Allied nationals would be interned there for 3 years. There were approximately 8,000 American citizens residing in the Philippines, and many were held hostage by the Japanese. Another internment camp was located in Los Banos.

Goldhagen, Manila Memories, 62. Narrative of Roderick Hall, "As the war progressed, he [dad] would only get a few half day passes. All leaves finally ended."

Goldhagen, Manila Memories, 9 & 43. Swiss citizens were considered neutrals and were permitted to move freely within the occupied territory. Foreign nationals included but were not limited to Chinese, Japanese, Swiss, South Americans, Germans, Italians, and Spaniards. "Swiss, Germans, and Italians were considered by the Japanese to be neutrals, or allies."

Frederick H. Stevens. "Santo Tomas Internment Camp: 1942-1945." Limited private edition (1946); and, de Olaguer, Terror in Manila,93. "Deaths averaged 5 or 6 per month in early 1944, up to 13 in October 1944 through January 1945, and 37 during the period of February 1-12, 1945."

"How the Philippines Saved 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust," CNN, February 3, 2015. Accessed on November 14, 2016. http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/02/world/asia/philippines-jews-wwii/From: Goldhagen, Manila Memories, 59. "Fortunately for us, the Japanese were not anti-Semitic. There was to be no ill-treatment of the Jews...they did classify Jews at a slightly lower category than non-Jewish Germans. At that time, none of us knew what was happening to the Jews in Germany."

Goldhagen, Manila Memories, 62.

Ward. "Legitimate Collaboration." 186.

Zeiler, Annihilation, 2. For the purpose of this paper, POWs are defined as captured Allied military personnel or soldiers of the Philippine Army who were engaged in active warfare in the Philippines at some point during WWII.

Danquah."Reports on Philippine Industrial Crops in WWII." 88.

Goldhagen, Manila Memories, 57. As was the case of Mr. Goldsmith, a German Jew who was caught with a home safe containing IOUs from American POWs. Goldsmith was taken to Fort Santiago and tortured. He was eventually released, but died of his injuries soon afterwards.

Goldhagen, Manila Memories, 57. "There was always an element of fear of the Japanese." The biggest problem being the language barrier. Filipinos did not know how to speak Japanese, and few Japanese spoke English.

Goldhagen, Manila Memories, 49. From Goldhagen, "I asked my mother why she had me tutored rather than send me to a big school like De La Salle, which was run by Catholic Christian brothers. She told me that if I had gone there, I would have had to take Japanese and they did not want me to do that." Japanese language lessons were mandatory during the occupation.

Toda, Roberto P. Diary, 11. "American or foreign films were not as widely available at that time so that Filipino Theatre Industry was thriving."

Goldhagen, Manila Memories, 55.

Toda, Roberto P. Diary, 11. "The elders would frequent the Jai Alai and the Metropolitan Theatre while the kids would enjoy themselves at home."

Goldhagen, Manila Memories, 49.

Toda, Roberto P. Diary, 11. "Not all Japanese were cruel. There was a Japanese sentry during the Bataan Death March who allowed his prisoner to escape all because of a rosary." Stories of kindnesses included this firsthand account of a Japanese athlete, "a representative of Japan to the Asian Games which where were held in Manila a few years before the war. Because of limited hotel space, some athletes were housed in different venues. De La Salle College provided part of the school for some athletes accommodations, and this particular soldier stayed there. Every morning, when he would walk around the school, the Japanese athlete noticed the students carrying their rosaries [a DLS tradition]. During the Death March, when the sentry saw the prisoner with the rosary, the sentry asked if the prisoner had gone to De La Salle, and when the prisoner said yes, the Japanese sentry set him free."From: Goldhagen, Manila Memories, 47. "What we didn't realize at the time was that the Japanese love children...I was feeding one of their horses some sugar and it tried to take a bite out of my light blonde hair, probably thinking it was straw. A Japanese soldier saw what was about to happen, and stepped in and stopped the horse."

Toda, Roberto P. Diary, 4. Some mestizos were listening to a short wave radio when they were raided by a band of Japanese militia. The entire family was brought to Fort Santiago and "were never heard of again."Goldhagen, Manila Memories, 67. The Japanese required that all radios must have the "short wave coils removed." The risk of non-compliance was a one-way trip to "Fort Santiago for torture, or towards the end" execution.

Toda, Roberto P. Diary, 7.

Danquah."Reports on Philippine Industrial Crops in WWII."76, 92. Abaca (Manila hemp) was invaluable to the Filipinos, because it served as a raw material for fishing nets, rope, paper, socks, and water hoses. Fishing in particular was a major industry. During the war, abaca was used by the Japanese in the production of military gunnysacks.

Danquah."Reports on Philippine Industrial Crops in WWII." 75.

Danquah."Reports on Philippine Industrial Crops in WWII." 75. Prior to the war, approximately "90 percent of the islands' sugar exports went to the United States."

Danquah."Reports on Philippine Industrial Crops in WWII." 2.

Danquah."Reports on Philippine Industrial Crops in WWII."4.

Zeiler, Annihilation, 1.

Toda, Roberto P. Diary, 4. Corroborated in oral Interview with Author: Thiele, Rose Marie, November 2, 2016. Corroborated in an Interview with American Major General Charles A. Willoughby, in Manila (de Olaguer, Terror in Manila: 159-166).

Toda, Roberto P. Diary, 4.

Oral Interview in Manila with: de Olaguer, Terror in Manila, 166. Major General Charles Willoughby, U.S. Army, served as Douglas MacArthur's Chief of Intelligence, Section G-2, during most of WWII.

The Battle of Manila and the sacking of the city began on February 3, 1945 and ended on March 3, 1945.

Toda, Roberto P. Diary. "That night of December 8, 1941 when the bombs first started to drop. Soon after Pearl Harbor the Japanese started landing in Lingayen, north of Manila."Oral Interview with Author: Thiele, Rose Marie, retired United Nations Secretary, November 2, 2016. That day "was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The Philippines is a very Catholic country, and so I remember it well."

Chen. "Invasion of the Philippine Islands." 1.

Chen. "Invasion of the Philippine Islands."1; and, Petillo."Douglas MacArthur and Manuel Quezon." 113. On February 8, 1942, a dispatch was issued from Fort Mills on Corregidor in which President Quezon suggested surrender and neutralization of the islands; MacArthur seemed to acquiesce, arguing that "the temper of the Filipinos is one of almost violent resentment against the United States."--MacArthur to Marshall, February 8, 1942, No. 2275, NNMM, NA. FDR's response was "emphatically deny[ing] the possibility of this government's agreement." Although Roosevelt granted MacArthur "permission to surrender Filipino troops, "Americans were not permitted to surrender."

United Nations Philippines. Accessed on November 14, 2016. http://www.un.org.ph/

Helak, M. M. (2017). "World War II in the United States Colony of the Philippines: Beyond the Bataan Death March and Douglas MacArthur." Inquiries Journal, 9(03). Retrieved from http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=1552

MLA

Helak, Martha M. "World War II in the United States Colony of the Philippines: Beyond the Bataan Death March and Douglas MacArthur." Inquiries Journal 9.03 (2017). <http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=1552>

HELAK, M. M. 2017. World War II in the United States Colony of the Philippines: Beyond the Bataan Death March and Douglas MacArthur. Inquiries Journal [Online], 9. Available: http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=1552

Martha M. Helak is currently pursuing a Masters degree in US History at University of Nebraska in Kearney, NE.

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